14 Comments Posted by Dona

Molly - I used to live about 1/2 mile down Kill Road from Sunny Croft, from 1968 til 1970, I was 6 to 8 years old then. My brother worked for Sunny Croft during that time frame . I remember the ranch, skeet shooting and the pool. I was at the Bruswick Inn once for lunch. My memories of that building are from before it was an Inn - when it was Esther's Store. Used to love going in there for candy, ice cream, or soda when I was little.

Slim - Rock was definitely unforgettable! I heard he is still around Fallsburg, driving a cab.

Howie - yeah, I'm sure we were there at the same time as well - and I think we hung out with many of the same people. Tom (not Tom-Tom from here), Chris, Steve D., Sue, Nancy, etc

Day2604 - not sure if there was one by that name, but there was a place called Sunnycroft, it was about 45 minutes from the Pines in a town called Shawangunk. It was last active, that I know of, in the 70's. It was a resort with a dude ranch type setting. I lived just down the road from it as a young child and my brother worked there as a teenager. Set at the base of some of the most beautiful sheer white rock cliffs, it was a very peaceful setting. Unlike the majority of the resorts in the Catskills of those days, this resort was not Kosher. It has since been torn down and is now part of the land holdings of the Jehovah Witnesses in the area. Their main farm and printing facility is located just a few miles from the old Sunnycroft Ranch.

Howie,
Anyone that worked there in the 80-82 timeframe has to remember Rock. He was an OK guy - if you were a friend, he was there for you. But most knew not to get on his bad side.........

I remember this lobby being filled at check-in time for singles weekends, college and high school trips, and the Sr Citizens "mid-week specials". I worked here as a lifeguard and running the spotlight in the nightclub. I usually wasn't in this part of the hotel but since I was part of the activities staff, occasionally my boss, Hank Leids, would have me come to help out with the check in. I'll never forget the time he decided it would be funny to bite me on the ass in the middle of the lobby during a singles weekend check-in!!! Kind of hard to keep order and respect in the pool after that!!!

Howie,
Yup - She left a few months after I started there. Right around the same time as the head lifeguard, don't remember his name - just that he was a vegetarian. I ended up the only lifeguard for that winter - 1980-1981.
I don't know what ever happened to Helana, but she was definitely someone you don't forget...... When I first started there I shared a room with her. I was quite happy when that arrangement ended!!!

It was definitely an awesome pool. There were 2 diving boards, one low and the other about 4 feet up. There were pink and blue lights on the sides of the pool, below the waterline, that were used for "Midnight Swims", during which only some of the room lighting was used. I was a lifeguard here in the early 80's. Winter, with a newly fallen snow just outside the huge galss walls, was amazing as well. I remember teaching sr citizens to swim, some of which were concentration camp survivors. Listening to their stories was great. There there were the singles weekends, high school and college trips, which could get a little wild!!! The Pines was a truly unique experience, a part of my life I wouldn't trade for anything.

Hey, T - by any chance were you a waiter back in those days? With an end room in the Ritz? Comments I've seen you post sure sound like an old friend.....

I was one of the lighting "guys" at the Pines. I was also one of the lifeguards at the indoor pool - early 80's. Was offered the additional part-time job when the regular guy screwed up with a major headliner act - he was drunk or high and the spotlight was everywhere except on the singer.

I guess I was young and naive when I worked there from the fall of 1980 to around Dec of 1981. While I did learn alot about life in general, I never realized the extent of the "fringe benefits" enjoyed by some of the staff. On a side note - this looks like the center room of possibly the 3rd or 2nd floor in the Ritz. I spent a few months living in the center room on the 3rd floor. While there wasn't ice in the toilet bowl, I do remember using a blow dryer for heat in the winter, when the heating system broke down (not an unusual occurrence either!!)

I lived on the third floor of the Ritz from Sep 1980 until the summer of 1981. It wasn't that bad. Room and board were part of the pay so the rest of the paycheck was pretty much party or gas money.....

I worked there from 1980 until 1982, first job out of high school. Didn't pay much, but room and board were part of the deal, so the paycheck was pretty much all spendable - read "party money". Lots of memories, learning about life, and growing up was done there. I worked as a lifeguard and in the nightclub running the spotlight for the shows. Hank was my boss, other names I remember were Rock the Bellhop, waiters Tom and Chris, Sue from the front desk..... It's a shame the Catskill resorts are now a part of history instead of still making history.

Don't know if it was someone's dream of revenge or if it actually happened - when I worked here in the early '80's a story was told of a waiter/busboy that had been fired - came back on the Saturday night of a busy weekend (possibly Rosh Hashanah), wearing a suit, briefcase in hand, and a toy law enforcement badge - walked into the kitchen and yelled "IMMIGRATION". (Many of these jobs were filled by illegals from central and south America.) Kitchen staff, waiters, and busboys along with many of the maids fled and didn't come back for over a week. All the other staff is said to have pitched in and worked these positions as well as their own jobs.